内容摘要：Global collaboration is essential, said Ndiaye—and strengthening local infrastructure is just as important.

Global collaboration is essential, said Ndiaye—and strengthening local infrastructure is just as important.

AP data journalist Kasturi Pananjady contributed to this report.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau.Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants.

The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years.

CDC officials believe the findings will not change much when the final numbers come out later this year.

Infant mortality is the measure of how many babies die before they reach their first birthday. Because the number of babies born in the U.S. varies from year to year, researchers instead calculate rates to better compare infant mortality over time.The global reforestation project One Tree Planted gets part of every purchase from furniture brand Joybird. Herman Miller’s rePurpose program gets used furniture to nonprofit organizations. And Ikea has initiatives like moving to bio-based glue, and instituting a buy-back/re-sell program that saw 230,000 items given a new life in 2022.

For the past five years, the United Nations Refugee Agency’shas helped artisans partner with fashion and home accessories businesses worldwide to create sustainable, fairly traded goods.

New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The AP. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.For more AP Lifestyles stories, go to